Hultqvist, Nina

Abstract [en]

Volvo Car Corporation is a car manufacturer with one of the markets strongest brands. Volvo stands for safety and environment and constantly develops new functions in the cars to promote the core values. Icons are often used in displays and for buttons in the driver environment as they require less attention than text. In this thesis project icons are designed for nine different upcoming functions in cars. The thesis is the final project of the Master of Science programme in Ergonomic Design and Production Engineering at Luleå University of Technology and covers 30 university points. It was carried out at Volvo Car Corporations Research and Development department at Lindholmen in Gothenburg. The functions handled were provided by Volvo Car Corporation. A thorough research was done to find icons used to similar functions today and guidelines for icon design. To create a number of concept icons a Production test was performed with seven test subjects. The test aimed to find out what associations there are to the functions’ main features. Concept icons were then designed for each function. The icons where tested in an Appropriateness test where test subjects ranked the icons by how suitable they considered them to be for each provided function. The results were compiled and between one and three icons for each function were chosen for further development. The suggested final designs were tested in a Comprehension/recognition test to find out if they passed the recommended level of comprehension. The test was formulated as a questionnaire where the test subjects examined the icons and described their meaning. The questionnaire was distributed through different car forums on the Internet and mail lists at Luleå University of Technology and generated 118 answers. The answers were evaluated into different levels of comprehension and to be approved as ISO-standard icon it must have 67% in the top 2 levels (level 1 and 2 on a scale of 10). To be used within Volvo Car Corporation the icon must have a mean value of level 3, or if it is a safety critical icon the mean level for comprehension needed is 2. For the nine provided functions six functions got icons that passed Volvo Car Corporation’s requirements and are recommended to use in the driver environment. Two of the icons passed the requirements for an ISO icon.